Padawan Problems
by meganichan04
Summary: Jedi Master Obi Wan Kenobi is infamously cool... until it comes to dealing with his precocious padawan! A bit of one shot Obi and Ani humor for your enjoyment. A little OOC freaking out by dearest Obi, but not too much.


**Author's Note:** Um… I have no excuse for this, other than I felt the need to write something silly and random. It just appeared in my mind, and, uh, I do like Star Wars a lot, and, well… (hangs head) Yeah. Also I think there is limitless potential for humor between Ani and Obi Wan, which appears briefly but not nearly enough in the films. Hope you enjoy. And please, I've never read the books, so have mercy and do not rag me for not knowing for sure exactly what each piece of high-tech Jedi equipment is called.

**Disclaimer:** The Jedi belong to George Lucas, not me. What I wouldn't give to be able to use the Force, though…

**For Your Info:** I suppose this could happen anywhere around the second movie, probably a bit before (though I much prefer slightly older Ani with curly hair). It's pretty general, only Anikin is definitely a teenager and has all the obedience issues that come with that particular stage.

**o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o **

"Yes, Master… absolutely, Master… of course, Master. Yes. Yes, I will. I _promise_. Alright. See you later."

Evening shadows were lengthening as Anakin Skywalker left the small apartment he shared with his master in the residence wing and tripped lightly through the halls of the Jedi temple.

Finally! Finally, Obi Wan had given him permission to take the speeder out on his own. It had taken weeks, nay months, of incessant whining, wheedling, and cajoling on his part, but it had happened at last.

"Run this one, _tiny_ errand," Obi Wan had told him, reluctantly handing over the parcel he wanted taken to the shipping office, "and then straight to the Archives with you. I expect a first-class essay from you tomorrow."

Anakin grinned impudently. As if. He could wing the essay over Jedi form and protocol. Tonight he had a shiny red speeder all to himself, and there were many, many more interesting places to go than the Archives.

"And I'll have fun, fun, fun 'til Kenobi takes the speeder away," he hummed happily as he sped out of the docking bay.

**O.O.O.O.O**

As never fails, Obi Wan was in the shower when the com buzzed. Hurrying out with a towel around his waist, he beheld a hologram from Masters Yoda and Windu. _What could possibly be so urgent? _he thought.

"Can I help you, Masters?" he asked aloud.

Down in the Council room, Jedi Master Mace Windu turned away from the arching glass windows and faced the holo-projector, looking rather a bit peeved. "Ah, yes. Master Kenobi. Do you have _any_ idea where your padawan is?"

Obi Wan looked confused, still dripping all over the place, a few tiny bubbles caught in his wet hair. "Anakin? Why, yes, I sent him out in my speeder to deliver a small package. Then he will be on his way to study in the Archives."

"I see." Mace rubbed tiredly at the bridge of his nose. "And what would you say, Master Kenobi, if I told you that not three minutes ago Master Yoda and I saw your little padawan go flying past this window at terminal velocity, headed in the exact opposite direction as the Archives?"

Obi Wan's eyes widened disbelievingly, then narrowed. "Ah. Well, in that case, I believe that I would say I have an errant apprentice to find. If you would please excuse me…"

"Of course. Carry on." Heaving a final sigh, Master Windu disconnected the hologram and turned back to the window. He had hoped Anakin would grow out of this rebelliousness, but apparently that had not yet come to pass. He wondered now if it ever would.

As if reading his thoughts, Yoda joined him at the window, looking out over a crimson Coruscant sunset. The old Jedi nodded wisely. "Jedi Masters, eight o'clock it is. Know _you_ where your padawans are?"

**O.O.O.O.O**

Anakin aimed a sulky glare over his shoulder as Obi Wan's speeder nosed into the docking bay mere meters behind his.

After nearly an hour's chase, the Jedi had finally managed to corner him into giving up. To add insult to injury, he had made his padawan fly home in front of him, following behind like a shark. Anakin was far from pleased.

"Just had to check up on me, didn't you?" he grumbled as Obi Wan parked the speeder and jumped out.

"For your information, it was Master Windu who noticed you breaking the airspeed limit when you blasted by the Council room." Obi Wan was none too pleased, either. "Not that it really matters who caught you. Anakin, why do you do these things?"

He received nothing but a sour expression that was half sulky pout, half glare. Obi Wan was torn between the desire to hug him as if he were a scolded youngling and explain exactly why what he had done was bad, and the need to smack him upside his thick little head.

"Don't you look at me like that, Padawan! You even _promised_ me. You promised me you would not go anywhere but the shipping office and the Archives, and then you go and do this. Why?"

"Well, Master, I did deliver your package, and I might have gone to the Archives… probably…" (here he tapped his index fingers contritely as Obi Wan glared) "but then Padme contacted me and said she was free tonight for the first time in ages, so… and… yes."

Obi Wan sighed, shaking his head. Ah. Padme. That definitely explained a lot. What young men wouldn't do to gain a girl's favor. "Anakin, I want you to _walk_ to the Archives and get started on that essay. I think you'd better make it double length, as well."

"What? That's so unfair! I already told Padme I'd pick her up at ten!"

"Sorry, Ani. I'm locking the controls on this speeder. I'm afraid it's going to be a long time before you go flying again, my padawan."

That ought to solve the problem. Maybe his headstrong little apprentice would actually learn a lesson this time. Self-righteously, Obi Wan began to type in and secure the pass code on his speeder's controls. Then he heard the "vroom."

While his master's back was turned, Anakin had taken the opportunity to commandeer another speeder. Obi Wan saw, with much alarm, that it was Master Windu's. "Anakin Skywalker, don't you _dare!_"

Laughing insanely, Anakin took off. He might not get very far, he rationalized, but he had to at least make the attempt. Padme deserved that much and, besides, torturing his stuffy little master was _such_ fun.

"_ANAKIN!!_"

**O.O.O.O.O**

Some days later…

"I can't believe I only got an 'average' on that stupid essay," Anakin muttered, washing vegetables at the sink. "Thirty pages worth and not even a really good mark for it…"

"Need I remind you that if you hadn't stolen Master Windu's speeder and taken up half of both our nights, you would have had a shorter assignment and more time to work on it?"

Anakin glanced over at his master, stirring something in a large mixing bowl. He had to snicker; Obi Wan was wearing an apron. "Don't say 'stole,' Master. I _borrowed_ the speeder with full intent of returning."

"As you say," Obi Wan muttered, increasing his rate of stir. It was obvious he was still not completely over the speeder episode. Anakin thought he should be; that was_ so_ last week.

"Master, may I go out and… I don't know… train, or something? I hate cooking."

Obi Wan was unfazed, adding a pinch of something or other to the bowl. "Absolutely not. You get out of kitchen duty much too often. Anyway, you'll be a full Jedi Knight someday and, Force forbid, you'll be living on your own. You don't want to wake up one day and realize you're all alone and don't know how to feed yourself, do you?"

"I'll just make my padawan do it."

"Anakin, you're not leaving. And you know very well that padawan learners are not to be used for slave labor. Pass me the flour."

Pouting again, Anakin made a random grab with the Force and sent the bag of flour zipping over his shoulder to his master. However, he did not check to see if the bag was open or not, and so could not hold back a shriek of laughter when it hit Obi Wan in the shoulder and exploded, coating the older Jedi in a cloud of fine white dust.

"Anakin!"

"Sorry, Master! It was an accident, I swear."

"Yes, well." Shooting his apprentice a glare full of deep suspicion, Obi Wan brushed himself off as best he could and salvaged what was left of the flour from the bag. "Let's not let it happen again. Pass the eggs, would you?"

An evil grin lit Anakin's face. "Of course, Master."

Obi Wan's eyes bulged as he realized what he'd said. "With your _hands_, Padawan--!"

Too late. The eggs came flying. Obi Wan managed to dodge two, but the third hit him in the chest with a wet _crunch_, _squelch_ sound.

"_Anakin Skywalker!_"

"Accident, Master!" Anakin sang.

"Accident, my saber! That was completely deliberate!"

"Absolutely not, Master." Anakin put on a great show of having been hurt by the accusation. "That was in no way intentional. But this is."

Obi Wan screamed as the milk in turn was sent soaring.

"Okay, Padawan, that is it!" Milk dripping off his hair and beard, the Jedi lunged for his obnoxious apprentice, only to be hit full in the face with a handful of dripping wet vegetable leaves.

Laughing maniacally, Anakin was about to have at his master with the sugar canister when Obi Wan suddenly upended the bowl of batter and plopped it down over his padawan's head. Anakin squalled accordingly, flailing his arms and shaking his curly head to be rid of the thick, sticky substance.

"Wait, that's not fair!" he wailed.

Obi Wan had to laugh, easily evading Anikin's hand as the junior Jedi aimed a slap in his general direction. "Oh, yes it is! Yes, see how you like it, you rotten little--!"

"…A-hem..?"

Very slowly, the two combatants turned to the open door and the unexpected visitors therein. Anakin pulled the bowl up over his eyes, gobs of excess batter dripping down his hair and face and hitting the floor in wet little plops. Obi Wan brushed minutely at the flour on his robes. "Why… _hell-o_, Masters."

Master Windu had a very odd expression on his face, as if he wanted to yell but was not quite sure who to yell at or what to make of it all. Anakin gave him an angelic smile, finally pulling the bowl off his head and attempting to scrape some of the batter back into it. Obi Wan coughed quietly. There was silence.

Yoda's pointed ears twitched. "Interrupting something, we are. Come back later, we will." Jabbing Mace in the leg with his walking stick, the tiny Jedi led the way out.

Master Windu looked back once, shook his head in amazement, and shut the door firmly. "Sometimes I really worry about those two…"

However, Mace thought he could have let the incident slide… or he could have, if a pristinely clean Anakin had not cornered him in the halls an hour later with a so-called "peace offering."

"I made you a cake, Master," he smiled, holding out the plate. The rather lopsided pastry had even been decorated with the image of a slightly dented pink speeder done in colored icing. "You know, sort of as an apology."

Mace raised an eyebrow. This was new. "Well, err, thank you." Never mind that he didn't really like cake all that much… Not knowing what else to do, he accepted the platter. Yoda might like it. The little Master was known to be fond of munchies.

"Enjoy it, Master," Anakin smiled, skipping off down the hall with a shake of his freshly-washed head. "There might be a few hairs in it, though."

Mace's eyes popped. "_Skywalker!!_"

**O.O.O.O.O**

Later, in the Council room…

"I just don't know what to do about them," Master Windu sighed, staring moodily out the window. "It never changes, except to get worse and worse."

Master Yoda lifted his eyes from the cake platter. He thought it had been very rude of Mace to put it on the table right in front of him when it had been made from batter scraped out of a padawan's hair and wasn't even fit to be eaten. The decorations were pretty, though.

"I knew it would never work out," Mace continued obliviously, beginning to pace the length of the window. "I knew it from the beginning. Kenobi was too young to take an apprentice and Skywalker was too old to be one. They've never had an appropriate Master-Padawan relationship. They act more like _brothers_ than anything! Skywalker always trying to bait his master, Kenobi always letting him get _away_ with it…"

Yoda nodded. "So cute when playing together, they are."

Mace's eye twitched minutely. "That isn't the point, Master. What I'm saying here is that Kenobi never enforced any discipline on his padawan, and now the boy doesn't respect _anyone!_ There is a complete lack of respect and obedience."

"And do what about it, would you?" Forgetting himself, Yoda reached for the cake. A little taste of frosting never hurt anyone.

"I'm not sure. But if these… incidents… continue to occur, I'll darn well do _something!"_

**O.O.O.O.O**

That something happened the very next day.

Master Windu, nursing a large scorched patch on the sleeve of his robe, stood furiously before his subordinate Jedi and said Jedi's very nervous padawan.

Obi Wan, normally so staunch, was on the verge of cowering. Anakin, deciding that discretion was indeed the better part of valor, was hiding behind his master. This proved something of a challenge, as he was already a good three inches taller than Obi Wan and seemingly growing by the day.

Mace pulled out Anakin's practice saber and all but slammed it down onto the tabletop. "Explain."

Anakin whimpered.

"Erm, well, yes," Obi Wan coughed, seeming at a loss for words. "I suppose in present circumstances an explanation _might_ be in order…"

"I'm waiting."

"Well, you see, it was like this. Anakin and I were sparring… training, you see… and there was an… insect… of rather large proportions buzzing about the hall that persisted in trying to alight upon us. I believe that it might have been drawn to the light from our sabers. You know how insects always seem to cluster around bright objects--"

"Get to the point, Kenobi."

Obi Wan winced. "The long and short is that Anakin was becoming somewhat… _distracted_, and I rather foolishly made a comment about the insect…"

"Master, I believe what you said was, 'would you just kill that twice-blasted bug already and concentrate?!'" Anakin supplied helpfully. "So I did."

Mace's entire face underwent a massive, sporadic twitch. "What you mean is that instead of taking careful aim and quickly dispatching the insect you hurled your saber in its general direction, and the saber then came hurtling out of the training hall window and nearly sliced my arm off. Is that what you're trying to tell me?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

Master Windu took a deep, calming breath, closed his eyes, and slowly counted to ten. "I… am doing my very best… to refrain from saying anything foolish. But I want the two of you to know something _very_ important."

"And that would be, Master?" Obi Wan hopped backwards, nearly tripping over Anakin as a strongly muscled pointer finger suddenly found its way into his face.

"Know this." Mace leaned in very close, staring them down in the most intimidating way he knew how. "You two are on _very_ thin ice. I want you to grow some _propriety_, some _decorum_, and some common _sense_, and I want you to do it _fast_. If I catch word of one more of these stupid little incidents, just _one_ more, I swear by the Force I will have the both of you hanging from the roof by rope harnesses and washing the outside of that window!"

Eyes round as saucers, master and padawan stared out the wide window. The view of the city, unobstructed by other close buildings, was perfect from such a magnificent vantage point. A few high-flying speeders whizzed by.

"But you know Master Obi Wan is afraid of heights," Anakin protested with a frown.

"That will be_ quite _enough, Anakin. Thank you very much, Master Windu. Your point has been made astoundingly clear." Taking his padawan firmly by the scruff of the neck, Obi Wan swept into a courteous bow and forced Anakin to do the same. "Now bow to the nice Master, Ani, and _let's get out of here_."

For once Anakin, slightly dumbfounded, had nothing to say as his significantly smaller Master forcibly pushed him to the door of the Council chamber and hustled them away double-time down the hall.

Alone in the room, Mace let slip a small, satisfied smile. He felt certain that, at long last, the problem had been solved. What he wasn't aware of was the muted yelling beginning to build from down the hall…

**O.O.O.O.O**

"That's great, Master, that's just great," Anakin fumed, throwing open the door to their quarters. "Just look at the mess you got us in."

Obi Wan was shocked to the point of stuttering. "What? My fault? How is your foolish method of insect extermination my fault?"

"Well I never would have thrown it if a certain someone hadn't been shouting at me to 'Kill it! Kill it!' The least you could have done was tell Master Wind-bag that it was all your fault. Now he hates _both_ of us!"

Obi Wan bristled. "You've got a lot of nerve talking to me like that, _Padawan_. I refuse to believe you expected me to take the blame for your carelessness!"

"But that's why you're the master and I'm the apprentice, isn't it?" Anakin whined, moodily kicking off his boots. "I'm still learning! It's only natural that I'll make mistakes."

"Mistakes are one thing, Padawan," Obi Wan gritted, tossing his cloak across the back of a chair. "Hurling an activated lightsaber at a senior Master of the Jedi Council is another matter entirely."

"Oh, come on," Ani moaned, flopping down across the sofa and pulling a pillow over his face. "It's not like I knew where the thing would land. You know what your problem is? You're too tense. Tense and stuffy."

"Then you're hotheaded and irresponsible!" Obi shot back. "One day you're going to get both of us killed, if not by Master Windu or in a speeder crash then by doing something else that you didn't think all the way through!"

Ever the pillar of maturity, Anakin removed the pillow and stuck out his tongue. "You're no fun."

Obi Wan huffed.

"That's probably why Master Qui Gon wanted me as his new apprentice. He didn't think you were very fun."

There was dead silence. After a moment of shocked stillness, Obi Wan's eyes narrowed and his hands clenched. An angry flush spread to all areas of the face not covered with blonde hair. "That is most _definitely _not true."

"Sure it is, Master. He looked at you and thought, 'You know, he's not very interesting. What I need is a new padawan that's small and cute and entertaining.' And that's why he wanted me." Anakin gave his master a sympathetic smile. "Don't feel too bad, though."

Obi Wan glared. "Anakin, you know perfectly well that Master Qui Gon only took you in because of your skill, and he could only do so because I was on the verge of being Knighted. It had nothing to do with our personalities! He wasn't trying to… to _replace_ me like a dog!"

"Like you say, you weren't a puppy anymore. Qui knew that. Time for a new one. Simple."

"Anakin!"

"Geez, Master, don't get all offended. It's not your fault you were a boring padawan."

"I was a _good_ padawan!" Obi Wan yelled, fighting not to stomp a foot. "I was a better one than you, in fact. At least I was obedient! I respected my elders, I did well in my lessons, I did what my master told me--"

"Oh, I get it." Anakin began to grin widely as if he had just stumbled upon some vast hunk of wisdom. "This is all about Master Qui Gon, isn't it? You're worried he didn't love you anymore."

Squinching his eyes shut, Obi Wan did his best to compose himself. His Jedi cool was rapidly deserting him. Anakin had no idea what he was talking about. He wished the boy would just _shut up_ and…

"Don't worry about it, Master. He still loved you. He had to, or else he wouldn't have kept calling you Obi-wubbles."

A panicked shriek erupted before Obi Wan could stop it. "_What? _Where did… _how _did… _when_ did you ever hear that?"

Anakin smirked up from the comfy couch. "Oh, you know. Around."

"It was Yoda, wasn't it? Why that no-good, ear-wiggling, tongue-wagging little green troll!"

Anakin shrieked with laughter. "Master, for Force' sake, I was curious and nine years old! I poked, prodded, spied and eavesdropped like there was no tomorrow!"

Obi Wan's face darkened. "How much do you know?"

"Oh, pretty much everything." Ani couldn't keep the wide grin off his face. This was better than pod racing. "Whenever you'd get all tense and flustered like you get, all '_this is a bad idea, Master_, w_e shouldn't do that, Master_,' then Master Qui Gon would pat your head or pinch your cheek or tug your padawan braid and call you his worried little Obi-wubbles."

Obi Wan was seeing red. That had been _Master Qui Gon's_ pet name for him! No one else could know it or say it! Was _nothing_ sacred?

_The Jedi do not resort to corporal punishment, the Jedi do NOT resort to corporal punishment, _he thought over and over. He had almost managed to convince himself of this when Anakin opened his mouth once more.

"Don't worry so much, Master. It's not a big deal. I mean, everyone knows." Anakin's smirk widened impossibly at Obi Wan's horrified expression. "They know since I told them."

Obi Wan lunged. Ani had time for one panicked shriek before he was tackled, the pillow clutched tight to his chest in a feeble protective barrier. "Wait, Master, I didn't mean it!" he yelled, slightly muffled as Obi Wan seized the pillow and began to beat him with it.

"Yes, you did!" Whack, bash, fwap.

"No, really! I'm sorry!" Squeal, cringe, kick.

"No, you're not!" Mercilessly Obi wailed on his ungrateful apprentice with the decorative pillow. "Mace and Yoda were absolutely right! You_ are_ evil, and you're lucky I'm not _suffocating_ you with this pillow, you little sand rat!"

Anakin finally managed to escape. Rolling off the sofa, he scrambled frantically across the room to grab another pillow off Obi Wan's favorite chair. In moments feathers were flying as master and padawan duked it out. The chair was upended and a small bookcase knocked awry, its contents spilling across the floor.

"Master, you're crazy!"

"You didn't have to tell anyone! If you'd kept quiet I would have let it go, but oh no, you had to go and tell half the Temple!" Obi Wan advanced, a slightly wild look in his eye. Anakin was not escaping _this_ trespass without punishment.

"I only told the other padawans!"

"Who in turn will tell their masters, who will all talk about it without remorse!"

"Well jeez, Master, it's not _my_ fault Qui Gon tugged your braid where I could see it!" Anakin made a quick pass with the pillow and strategically retreated behind the sofa, Obi Wan following his every move. This was getting slightly out of hand.

Obi gave active chase, running his apprentice out from behind the sofa and managing to grab the end of Anakin's own padawan braid. "I'll _tug your braid_, you little monster!"

"_OWW!_ Don't pull it! You psycho, you're gonna _pull it out!_ Leggo!" Retaliating with a bite to his master's sleeve, Anakin scrambled up again. His pillow hung limp and defeated, nearly empty of feathers. It was time for the big guns.

**O.O.O.O.O**

Master Windu stormed down the hall. Yoda, following at his heels, looked much interested. There was entertainment ahead.

Mace had settled down to some report filing not a quarter hour after making his threat upon the two, when a scared youngling in training had come running into his office terrified that a murder was being committed in Master Kenobi's apartments. This was it, then. The last of the last straws.

Quite soon they arrived at the door to the apartment in question. A loud crash echoed from inside the room, followed unmistakably by one of Skywalker's rather imaginative curses. "I swear…" Mace growled. "If they're fighting in there, there are going to be some _very serious_ consequences!"

"Baking some more, perhaps they are."

Mace shot a look at the much smaller Master, but Yoda appeared entirely serious. One never could tell with him. Shrugging, Master Windu opened the door. A large pouf of feathers came flying out. There, inside the room, they beheld the scene.

A torn pillowcase was hanging from the edge of the fan set into the ceiling; feathers from the large rip swirled all around the living area like a mock snowstorm. Books and knickknacks of various types were strewn about the floor radiating away from an upset bookcase; a datapad lay broken near the end table with a spilled glass of juice dripping slowly down onto its shattered screen.

In the middle of the mess, Anakin and Obi Wan stood engaged, to the death or mortal wounding, in an incredibly vicious slappy fight.

Master Yoda's ears twitched once. "Oh, my."

The combatants froze, Obi Wan clutching the front of Anakin's shirt and one of Anakin's hands fisted in Obi Wan's golden hair. Very slowly they turned toward the door.

Master Windu had yet to move, the fires of doom reflected in his dark eyes. Without invitation Yoda strolled in, primly picking a way through the mess on the floor on an unerring path to the candy dish on the one upright end table. "Having fun, are you, young ones? Playing nicely? Good, that is, very good."

The pause ended. Slowly releasing his hold on Anakin's shirt Obi Wan let a mellow smile grace his expression. Affectionately straightening said shirt and the padawan braid that had gone frizzy and undone, he gave his apprentice a gentle pat on the head. Anakin likewise let go of his master's hair, petted it back into place, and began to fondly brush the feathers off his head and shoulders.

"There you are, Master."

"Thank you, my Padawan. How thoughtful you are."

From the table next to the candy dish, munching a slice of sugarcoated fruit, Yoda glanced past the decidedly friendly pair at his Jedi protégé. "Move, you can, Master Windu."

"If I move now… someone gets hurt," Mace gritted.

Still smiling widely, companionable arms thrown about each other's shoulders, Anakin and Obi Wan gulped.

Mace took one last deep breath, deeming himself fit to speak without screaming. He pointed firmly at them. "You. Windows. Dawn, tomorrow."

They nodded slowly, Anakin with a slight whimper and Obi Wan feeling faint. The breeze was often quite brisk on that rather lofty level in the early morning.

"Go now, I suppose we should. Much cleaning, here, there is to do." Taking a few pieces of candy for the road, Master Yoda hopped quickly out the door. "Master Windu. Coming, are you?"

With one last glare, Mace pulled the door shut behind him. The two errant Jedi inside were being surprisingly quiet and cooperative in picking up and putting to rights the apartment. He didn't trust them in the slightest.

"Did you ever notice how Kenobi's gone downhill since that little terror started growing up?" he finally asked. Munching was all the response he got from his companion. "You know… this is all that idiot Qui Gon's fault."

There was a flicker in the Force as Qui Gon's translucent ghost stepped through the closed door of the apartment. He appeared to be laughing quietly. "Actually, Master Windu, I believe my little apprentice turned out rather well." Then he was gone.

Mace glared. "Poser."

**O.O.O.O.O**

As promised, the next morning found Anakin and his master, bright and early, scrubbing windows to a delightful birds' eye view of the sprawling Coruscant cityscape. Both had squeegee sponges and buckets of soapy water with which to complete their task.

Obi Wan kept his gaze fixed directly in front of him, concentrating on removing streaks from the glass of the Council room window. As Anakin scrubbed, he utilized the squeegee, until the window shone in the morning sun.

"You know, Master," Anakin began conversationally, "a lot of birds are going to break their necks on this window. You'd think the Jedi would be more nature-friendly, wouldn't you? Install screens or something?"

"I'd really rather not talk right now, Anakin." Gulping, Obi Wan gingerly held his squeegee stick out to one side and very gently shook it off. The slightest movement on his part would set him to swaying about on the rope, and that was the last thing he wanted.

Anakin sensed this and seriously regarded his master for a moment, before sticking out one foot and giving him a gentle push. Obi Wan began to swing like a pendulum.

"Anakin, stop!"

"What's wrong, Master? You don't like to swing?" Another gentle push.

"Ani, please, we're hundreds of feet in the air!" Obi pleaded, grasping both squeegee and rope in a death grip. The rope twisted slightly, propelling him in a slow circle. "Death is not your friend, Anakin!"

"Don't worry, Master, the Force will be with you." Push, push. "Don't you trust the Force?"

"I don't trust this rope! I'm positive I saw some fraying up near the top!"

Snorting amusedly, Ani reached out his foot for a final, teasing push. "I'm sure that's just your imagination, Mas-- oh, _Sith!!_"

With a loud and obvious twang, the rope supporting Obi Wan snapped, and seconds later Anakin found himself clinging to his own rope for dear life with his master hanging like grim death from his ankles. The buckets they had been holding fell like stones, one finding its final resting place only after making a large dent in a passing vehicle. The other, nearly solving a rather large problem before it came to fruition, came nigh of cracking Senator Palpatine's skull as he stepped out of his transport. Oh, well. It had done its best.

Anakin swung to and fro on the breeze, pondering his options. Obi Wan was making panicky little whining noises, kicking his legs futilely. "Don't move, Master, I'll fix it." His harness seemed to be holding steady. Carefully, Ani released one hand from the rope and tapped gently on the window with his squeegee stick. "Master Windu? Helloooo? I know you're in there, Master…"

Inside the room, Mace looked up from his files. What had become a slight tapping had escalated into an all out barrage of staccato beats on the grand window of the Council room. Stalking over, he ripped open the curtains, fully expecting to see Kenobi and Skywalker smacking at each other with their scraper sticks and sponges.

To his surprise, Anakin grinned sheepishly back through the freshly cleaned glass. A loose bit of rope swirled about in the wind. Looking down, Master Windu finally caught sight of Obi Wan. He wanted to cry. Why did these things always,_ always _have to happen on his shift?

"If I cut the other rope," he mused quietly to himself, "would that be murder, or charity? An unforgivable sin, or a boon to the galaxy? A blatant violation of the Jedi code, or a cure for my continuing neurosis…?"

Anakin tapped impatiently with his stick. Mace gazed steadily back at him. There was no one else in the room to bear witness. Satisfied, he nodded once.

"Just hold on, okay, Master?" Anakin called down excitedly. "I think he's gonna help us!"

"Oh, let me assure you I wasn't planning on letting go!"

However, quickly glancing expectantly up again, Anakin received the shock of his young life. Senior Jedi Master Mace Windu was smiling at him. Smiling and drawing shut the drapes.

"Uh, Master? Master Windu? What are you doing? No, wait, don't close the curtains!"

Obi Wan felt faint. So this was it. Mace was angry enough to let him die. It was the end. "Anakin, please don't move around so much…"

Surprisingly, Anakin obeyed. He paused for a moment to think and hit on a genius idea. "Wait a second, I know what this is! Master Windbag's testing us to see how well we work together in a pinch! We'll show him, won't we, Master? Come on, I'll grab the rope with the Force and you just kind of swing up here, like…"

As his apprentice rambled, Obi Wan heaved a deep sigh. If he ever got out of this, he was going to request an off-planet assignment, preferably one in a galaxy far, far away. He was going to tell the Council to think_ long_ and_ hard_ before Knighting Anakin. And he was _never_ going to take on another padawan again.

He took a deep breath. "Ready, Padawan? On three."

"You got it, Master!"

_After all_, Obi reasoned as he prepared to utilize both physical and Force strength in a daring escape. _After stepping out right after my own Knighthood straight into a crash course with Ani… well. Any other apprentice I might get would probably be far too boring._

**O.O.O.O.O**

The End

**o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o **

**(2****nd****) Author's Note:** Ah, yes, I think that might have cured my random silly urges for a while yet. Also, now a Star Wars movie marathon is inevitable. The rest of the family will have to deal, cats included. Hope you liked it.


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